Monday, December 28, 2009

More Looks at the Wrigley Wax World Headquarters

Renovations and remodeling at Wrigley Wax's World Headquarters are now complete. I've already shown you my Cubs shelf and wax pack display. Today. I'll let you peak at the other shelves I've got.

I wanted something really sturdy since I know that cards and binders can get pretty heavy. I also wanted the shelves wide enough to hold a binder with room to spare. I ended up with some of the heavy duty shelving units that you use in your garage. We picked them up from Home Depot. Mrs. Wrigley Wax didn't like the industrial grey color they came in, so we painted them to match the brown trim in the basement.

I've got two units, with room to add one more as my collection grows. Notice I said "as my collection grows," not "if my collection grows." It will keep expanding! The unit on the left is my Topps shelf and the one in back has everything else. You can see the Cubs shelf on the right.

On the very top of the Topps shelf are the 1969 - 1974 complete sets in binders. Since they are my most valuable, I've got them lying flat. Each album has a tag I made using the wax pack wrapper as the picture, and the year listed. Click on the picture if you'd like a better look at the tags. On the first shelf are binders for the sets from the 1980's. I've still got to get '86-89 in the binders; right now they are still in boxes. I've also got my 1970 Kelloggs set in top loaders and stored on this shelf.

Shelf two has the boxes from 1990 - 2009, plus the boxes with all the traded and update sets. Eventually, all of these will end up in binders, too.

Shelves three and four are currently where I keep my extra supplies of binders and pages. When the Topps binders are put in binders, they will end up on these two shelves.

This is shelf #2. It has all of the other complete sets I've got.

The top has Topps 1975 - 1979 stored flat. Shelf one has binders of complete sets. Most of these are the first year issue of any set that I have complete Cubs team sets. For example, I've got all the Heritage Cubs, so year one of Heritage, 2001, is there. Some of the others include Donruss and Fleer, 1981, Upper Deck 1989, and Cracker Jack 2004. If you click on the picture, you should be able to get a good look at all of these.

Shelf two has more of the complete sets. Shelf three is my Fleer shelf. I've got the complete run of Fleer, from 1981 - 2007, plus the update sets.

Shelf four is the everything else shelf. I've got several other complete sets, plus my extra singles from the '70s.

And finally, since this is in the basement, I've also got a dehumidifer for the summer when it gets muggy downstairs.

I am really happy with the way things turned out. I can sit at my desk and see the entire collection. If I want to write about something, it is an easy thing to get the card out to be scanned.

The number one goal of the renovations was to get the collection accessible. That has been accomplished!

Thanks for the great ideas. I hadn't thought of the "industrial shelves." In fact I think we have a couple out in the shed that can be rescued, painted, and used. The idea of using the wrappers on the binders is also a good one.

Very nicely done! I really like the layout and the identification system is excellent.

Do you have any problems with the sheets in the binders stored upright? I've got my binders stored flat to keep the sheets as straight as possible, but its makes them less accessible as you have to pull out the binders on top to get to the ones on the bottom.

I'm thinking it would be more effective to store them upright from a space efficiency standpoint, but I'm worried that the sheets start to sag and the cards could potentially be impacted.

About Me

I am a life-long Cubs fan currently in exile in southern Michigan. I have been collecting baseball cards since the fateful Cubs year of 1969. I took a 15 year break from the hobby and returned in 2008.